Preparing for the Future of the STEM Teacher Workforce in the 21st Century: Leveraging Multi-contextual Evidence

该项目旨在确定STEM教师队伍的人口统计和离职行为的趋势。它侧重于为留住高需求学校，特别是农村社区的准教师，并改善学生的结果所需的具体补救措施和投资。该项目包括两项补充研究，一项使用全国教师和校长调查(较早前的学校和人员配置调查的最新版本)，另一项使用堪萨斯州和密苏里州的纵向行政数据。该项目将探讨一系列问题，包括：由于新冠肺炎疫情，全国STEM教师的人口统计、离职意图和实际流动率可能发生了怎样的变化；2007-08年的大衰退和新冠肺炎疫情可能如何影响教师业绩。这项研究将产生深刻的见解，为高需求学区的可操作招聘和留住实践以及未来专注于教师劳动力市场的研究提供参考。概念框架和拟议的分析建立在教师离职模型的基础上，该模型提出了三类驱动教师流失的主要因素：教师因素、学校因素以及外部因素和事件。利用这一框架，研究人员将研究问题和分析归类为三个广泛的主题：STEM教师特征、STEM教师受雇的学校和学生特征以及影响STEM教师的当代世俗趋势。他们还考虑了STEM教师的特点和STEM教师工作的学校背景之间的相互作用。调查小组将使用描述性和回归分析来回答研究问题。在相互关联的研究领域，研究人员将在国家普适性和全面的州特定应用之间取得平衡，为当前和未来的实践、政策和研究提供信息。该项目由EHR核心研究(ECR)计划支持。ECR计划强调基础STEM教育研究，以产生该领域的基础知识。在基本、广泛和持久的关键领域进行投资：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM的参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。该计划支持积累强有力的证据，为理解、构建理论以解释和建议干预和创新以解决STEM教育中的长期问题提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to identify trends in the demographics and turnover behavior of the STEM teacher workforce. It focuses on specific remedies and investments needed to retain prospective teachers in high-need schools, especially rural communities, and to improve outcomes for their students. The project includes two complementary studies, one using the National Teacher and Principal Survey (an update from the earlier Schools and Staffing Survey) and a second, using longitudinal administrative data from the states of Kansas and Missouri. The project will explore a range of questions, including: how STEM teacher demographics, turnover intentions, and actual turnover may have changed nationally due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and how the Great Recession of 2007-08 and the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced teacher outcomes. This body of research will produce insights to inform actionable recruitment and retention practices for high-need school districts and future research focused on teacher labor markets.The conceptual framework and proposed analyses build upon a model of teacher turnover that suggests three main categories of factors that drive teacher turnover: teacher factors, school factors, and external factors and events. Leveraging this framework, the investigators group the research questions and analyses into three broad themes: STEM teacher characteristics, the school and student characteristics in which STEM teachers are employed, and contemporary secular trends that impact STEM teachers. They also consider the interplay between the STEM teacher characteristics and the school context in which STEM teachers work. The investigating team will employ descriptive and regression analyses to answer the research questions. Across interconnected lines of inquiry, the researchers will balance national generalizability with comprehensive state-specific application to inform current and future practice, policy, and research.This project is supported by the EHR Core Research(ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent issues in STEM education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.